Feminist Feminism

When one closes their eyes and hears the word feminist, one can imagine seeing a mob full of women marching down the street burning their brassieres while chanting anti-male chants, while holding signs that sheds light on the unfair treatment women were exposed to for several decades. On the other hand, if one closes their eyes, and hears the word feminine, one can imagine seeing either a dainty female looking sweet and innocent, something like a princess, or a lady with “tasteful” sex appeal. These images along with other images associated with femininity and feminist comes from how the media, new papers, and stories portray them. Looking on the surface, they seem quite the opposite in nature. In Claire Miye Stanford’s essay “You’ve Got the Wrong Song: Nashville and Country Music Feminism” Stanford poses a question, “Can a show that is so ostensibly interested in the ‘feminine’…also be feminist?” (Stanford 277). At first glance, one would disagree, but more TV shows are portraying their leading women as a feminine feminist. Shows like Nashville, Insecure, and Orange is the New Black are breaking the boundaries and changing the views on what the new feminine feminist looks like.

In her report, Veronica Loveday writes about Women’s Rights Movement, during World War two, and many restrictions women faced. Women’s rights movement in the U.S. begun in the 1960s as a reaction to the decades of unfair social and civil inequities faced by women. Over the next thirty years, feminists campaigned for equality, such as equal pay, equal work , and abortion rights. Women finally gained the right to vote with the passage of the 19th amendment to the constitution in 1920.

The American women’s rights movement started in 1848 at the Seneca Falls Convention when 100 people, 32 male and 68 female signed the Declaration of Sentiments. The inequality was no longer acceptable. During the civil war, women began to fill the work, mainly

Women’s rights did not officially begin to be a problem until 1848. Many believe that it’s been a problem from at most the 1600’s. Colonial women didn’t give a thought about their rights, but there were some female political leaders. Margaret Brent, a woman who had been given power-of-attorney from Lord Baltimore. Judith Sargent Stevens Murray, the writer of the United States’ first feminist theory. “Will it be said that the judgment of a male of two years old is more sage than that of a female the same age? I believe the reverse is generally observed to be true. But from that period what partiality! How is the one exalted and the other depressed…. The one is taught to aspire, and the other is early confined and limited.”

The women’s suffrage movement is thought to have begun with the publication of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft in 1792. Wollstonecraft is considered the “mother of feminism” and wrote of the sexual double standards between men and

In 1776, Abigail Adams writes to her husband, John Adams, asking him to “remember the ladies” in the new code of laws. Adams replies, “The men will fight the despotism of the petticoat.” Through feminist movements and new laws being passed, women gained the right to vote. The women’s suffrage movement began in 1848 at the Seneca Falls Convention.

Women nowadays have opportunities that were not obtainable in past decades but must overcome, or in most cases overlook, the barrier of being punished in the long run for simply being a woman; “gender differences in starting salaries are a significant contributor to long-term earning differentials between men and women” (Bowels and Babcock). It seems to me that in the workforce, a woman is a person just as a man is a person, if that person gets the job done right, he or she should be paid for doing so, if not, that person receives repercussions. The influence of gender on this issue is very curious as to why it is even a factor in the first place.According to “melanievarnell.wordpress.com” Doing research on the equal work equal pay topic has aroused many questions and proposed solutions, but the lingering query is why employers are still enabling this workplace behavior and discrimination in the 21st century. An article titled, “Equal Work for Equal Pay”: Not Even College Helps Women, was written by “Korva Coleman”; who claims that women are worth less than men when entering the workforce after completing a college degree. Throughout the article, Coleman supports her claim using different studies’ results that “show when men and women attend the same kind of college, pick the same major and accept the same kind of job, on average, the woman will still earn 82 cents to every dollar

Beginning with the college front Dorment brings to light that “nearly 60 percent of the bachelor’s degrees in this country today go to women. Same number for graduate degrees.” (Dorment, 698). Then transitioning into the corporate workplace Dorment claims that, “women earn only seventy-seven pennies for every dollar made by the average man” (Dorment 698). Dorment later states in the article that “60 percent of two-parent homes with kids under the age of eighteen are made up of dual-earning couples.”(Dorment, 702). Dorment then comments on Anne-Marie Slaughters’ article (Why Women Can’t Have It All). “Men have oppressed their wives and sisters and daughters for pretty much all of recorded history, and now women are supposed to trust us to share everything

In contemporary society, there is a movement toward feminism, both in average lives and when it comes to the labor market. Many individuals agree that men and women alike should have equal

Half of the whole workforce in the United States is made up of women, yet their average pay is more than twenty percent less than a male counterpart (“Pay”)(Claire). If they do ask for a raise, many employers deem them as untrustworthy though many men are more respected. (Claire). Women in the United States make only seventy-eight cents to every man’s dollar (“Pay”). Yet, 49,000,000 children in the U.S. today rely on a female to provide them with food, clothing, and other necessities (“Did”). Women being paid less is caused because of sexism, the history of our nation, and small details that employers find relevant enough to lower a woman’s pay.

One of the reasons income inequality continues to prevail in today’s society is because lawmakers disagree on the issue at hand. The New York Times (n.d)) notes that Republicans blocked a bill on equal pay presented by Democrats that was aimed at closing the pay gap between men and women. Republican lawmakers impede that bill because they believed that given existing anti-discrimination laws, the legislation was redundant and is a transparent attempt by the Democrats to distract from President Obama’s much –criticized health care law. Another reason the income equality persist is due the difference in pay between genders within the same occupations. However, some lawmakers who turn down the equal pay bill believed that the disparity remains because of difference in occupations held among male and female. An example of an occupational difference is a female social worker that makes less than a male engineer (New York Times, n.d). Finally, I believe these income disparities persist because this civilization refuse to dismantle the past sexism views of women’s role as the weaker, idle and subservient domesticator. All in all, until society as a whole embrace women’s ingenuity, strength, and eagerness to be a working productive member of society the pay gap between men and women will continue to prevail for generations to

Women earn 77 percent of what men earn for the same job (Edmonds, 2014). That equals about .77 cents of every dollar that a man earns. We as women are losing 23 cents just because we are women. I have chosen to write about women’s equality using the utilitarian and deontology ethical theories. The world today is a much different world to live in for women, yet it is much the same in other countries as it has been for centuries. Even if they have so many other obstacles to overcome, woman still find a way to prevail. Woman still get the short end of the stick most days with lower

Created and perpetuated in part by patriarchal religions and capitalism, the American workplace exemplifies sexism in modern society, contributing to the continuation of women being viewed as subordinate to men (Albee and Perry 145). In 2013, American women earned 82 cents to every dollar that men earned, a discrepancy known as the gender wage gap, and that gap widens for working mothers in the United States. Though mothers comprise a larger percentage of the workforce than do fathers, they loose $141 each week compared to fathers’ average earnings, increasing the yearly wage gap from 12 percent on average to 25 percent for working mothers (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). A study conducted by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research used data spanning the 15 years between 1983 and 1998 to conclude that women earned 38 cents to every dollar earned by a man, demonstrating the costs over time of the unequal distribution of family responsibilities (English and Hegewisch 1). On average, women earned $237,592 compared to the men’s average of $722,693 over the 15-year period (2). Despite evidence that approximately half of the gender wage gap can be attributed to normal economic wage fluctuations, an argument often used by those who claim the gap does not exist, sexism has been shown to contribute to the other half (TD Economics 1).

In every 45 seconds, someone is sexually violated in the United States. Out of every 6 women, one has experienced an attempted rape or complete rape. Lesbians and bisexual women remain at increased risk of sexual victimization compared to heterosexual women. In order for a woman to determine the direction of her life, she must first determine her sexuality. Sexuality is a deep, integral part of any human’s life. This should not be a subject of coercion or debate. The society must recognize that a woman has the right to freely pre-determine her sexuality without oppression and discrimination (Burn, 2004). Traditionally, women throughout history and culture have undertaken the role of independent, non-heterosexual, women-connected existence.

FEMINISM Introduction to Sociology  Feminism Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. The movement organized around this belief. Feminism Feminist Theory is an outgrowth of the general movement to empower women worldwide.